Sony's Latest PR Blunder Buried in New PSN Terms of Service

As a newly minted PS3 owner after the recent price drop, I get to experience the joy of a host of exclusive titles I’ve been missing before.

Unfortunately, I now also get to share in the plight of the users subjected to Sony’s persistent foolishness, rather than gloating from the comfort of my Xbox.

Thankfully, I missed the whole PSN hacking debacle and my newly created account is (allegedly) safe and sound, but sure enough, days after I pick up the system, there’s a new controversy getting users hot and bothered.

It has to do with a new clause in the Terms of Service of the PSN which now says the following:

“Any Dispute Resolution Proceedings, whether in arbitration or court, will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class or representative action or as a named or unnamed member in a class, consolidated, representative or private attorney general action.”

And goes on to say “unless both you and the Sony entity with which you have a dispute specifically agree to do so in writing following initiation of the arbitration.”

The non-lawyer version of this passage? You can’t file a class action lawsuit against Sony unless Sony itself allows you to.

It’s a slap in the face to consumers already weary of the company’s practices, as they’re essentially saying they could have another privacy breaching screw-up like the hack, and you wouldn’t have recourse against them in the form of a class action lawsuit. There’s currently a lawsuit filed against Sony for the hacking breach by the Rothken law firm on behalf of the 77 million customers affected, but this does not fall under these new terms of service, and will be going forward.

It’s a big PR goof for Sony, but when you really examine the actual consequences, class-action lawsuits aren’t exactly the great legal weapon consumers might think they are, at least not in the case of the video game industry. Gamasutra points out what the results have been for notable class-actions in the medium previously:

· The Hot Coffee class action suit against Take-Two Interactive Software? Members of the class ultimately got $5.
· Take-Two shareholders who sued over the company’s failure to consider a takeover offer from EA? They got nothing.
· The class action suit against The9 for allegedly misrepresenting facts? Dismissed.
· That class led by the former Rutgers QB who alleged his publicity rights were infringed by NCAA Football? Also kicked.

So in short, we’re not exactly suffering from cancer caused by a chemical plant and Erin Brockovich isn’t going to be getting us a million dollars each.

Still though, Sony should know better than to try to sneak something in there like that. Obviously someone was going to read the fine print, and now there’s another PR headache for a company that doesn’t need one.